Should We Even Care?

 

Are our lives determined by fate or free will? This is an age-old question, and one I have had my fair share of trying to answer – while being unsuccessful – in last year’s Socratic seminars. I thought that the Oedipus debate would finally bring some closure to matter, but to be quite honest, I just ended up being more confused. While preparing for the debate, I felt confident in the position that Oedipus was not a victim of fate. Though, after actually thinking after the debate about what the opposition had to say, I started to question my stance.

Sure, I still stand by my argument that it was Oedipus’s realization of his family’s situation which caused his ultimate demise, and that this realization occurred because of his free will. But what about when he was a baby: was this fate? During the debate, our team refrained from touching heavily on this part of the timeline because we knew the winning arguments did not lie here. That is fine, since all we wanted was to win. However, now that the debate is over, I can admit that maybe there is some intertwining between fate and free will. Though, it is just sort of a hunch.

 And that brings me to my final answer to whether our lives are determined by fate or free will: I do not know, and it does not matter. If fate does exist and dictates some part of my future, I will probably never know that it was because of fate when that time arrives. All that is important is to accord every decision with knowledge of my past, present, and hopes for future. Really all you, I, or anyone else can do is take responsibility for our own lives regardless of whether the consequences of our actions are what we desire and what should have logically happened. And yes, this is very cliché. But if the best answer anyone can really give to this question is a cliché, maybe the question we are asking itself is not that deep and does not hold truly much value.